Robin Baskerville-Bridges

Obituary for Robert (Robin) Edward Baskerville-Bridges, March 6th, 1959 - August 16th, 2024

It is with heartfelt sadness that the family of Robin Baskerville-Bridges announce his unexpected passing on August 16th, 2024. Robin passed quietly and peacefully in his sleep at home in Brentwood Bay. He was 65 years old.

Robin was born and raised in Victoria, BC, in a house that still sits next to Horner Park near Mount Tolmie. He was beloved by his family; he was predeceased by his parents Frank & Peggy and brother Jim, and is survived by his partner Sandy, sons Aaron and Neil, siblings Bud, Sharon, Rikki, Bill and Dorothy, and ex-wife Sherry.

Robin graduated Mount Doug High School and studied electrical engineering at the University of British Columbia, mostly - as he told it - because his older brother had as well. He was known on campus as one of the first people to own a personal computer and preferred creating fun demonstrations of its capabilities for his friends (such as coding a game of “20 questions” in FORTRAN that used machine learning) instead of using it for core electrical engineering coursework.

He married Sherry Savage in 1985, and his sons Aaron and Neil were born in 1992 and 1994 respectively. Robin was a dedicated father and was very intentional in how he set up his life to prioritize raising his boys. When Aaron and Neil were born, he wound down his business - Lanark Consulting and took on contract work with Camosun College to ensure he was always home when they were home from school.

Despite Robin’s insistence that they could pursue any education path and that he would be supportive of whatever path they took, both Aaron and Neil graduated with degrees in Engineering. Neil now works with the BC Government developing internal software tools, and Aaron works at a sustainability startup developing more energy-efficient windows.

Robin lived life according to his values, which he taught by example to his sons, Aaron and Neil. He taught them to think logically and practically to solve problems and to not let uncontrollable factors cause frustration. He found and created fun in the simplest of situations, finding joy in all aspects of life. On top of all else, he made decisions and spent his time in ways that allowed him to stay true and dedicated to the things he cared about most.

He maintained and appreciated long-lasting relationships but also made new ones whenever there was an opportunity. He had a rare talent of making all his friends feel listened to, appreciated and loved. Any friend knew they could call on Robin for a chat, a walk or a shoulder to lean on. He walked that magical line of listening openly and never being judgemental.

His love of computers and finding fun and creative ways to demonstrate their capabilities would carry through Robin’s entire career, first with his company Lanark Consulting, which provided contract training to people who had never used computers or software (covering Lotus 1-2-3 and basic file management) to his 30+ years at Camosun College, where he taught introductory courses in Excel, Word, Access, and Powerpoint. He was consistently rated highly by his students for his dedication to teaching and answering questions during office hours, and for his penchant for offering free chocolates to students whenever they answered his questions in class.

While Robin loved computers and technology, he was also a talented artist. He attended art classes after graduating UBC, ending a 10+ year art hiatus after someone made fun of his fireman drawing in grade 4. He was known by many as the ‘one who sent the Christmas Cartoon’, publishing a four-page year-in-review cartoon that he sent out annually for over 30 years. In the mid 1990’s Robin began painting more, with an emphasis on capturing places, memories, and people he cared about. Some of his paintings can be seen in the photo gallery above. He had an art studio at his home in Brentwood Bay where he would spend countless hours painting and listening to 70s music playing on his combo CD/cassette player while looking out over his studio view of Tod Inlet.

Throughout his life, Robin had been an avid traveler – adventuring to Australia for 6 months upon graduation, multiple visits to Paris and New York City, taking both of his sons on separate road trips across Canada and back – and his passion for travel only accelerated during his time with Sandy. After both of their marriages ended, Robin and Sandy became a couple in 2008 after many years of friendship. When they weren’t enjoying and upgrading their home in Brentwood Bay, BC, they were traveling the world, often doing house-sits in rural areas to get a more genuine local experience and save money for even more travel. To the surprise of everyone, Robin fell in love with the country life they adopted during these house-sits, and became adept at taking care of cats, dogs, chickens, parrots, cows, horses, goats and pigs. These times were precious for both Robin and Sandy, they traveled so comfortably and well together. They enjoyed the simple pleasures of life overseas - walking, talking, eating and making new friends.

Robin was always open and loving of Sandy’s sons Kirk & Sean and nothing pleased him more than cooking a fabulous meal for them. Family and love defined Robin. We should all take a page from his book as we walk through life.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

Those interested in supporting a memorial bursary in Robin’s honour at Camosun College are invited to do so at

https://webservices.camosun.ca/foundation/memorial-gifts/

Before his passing, Robin had talked about what music he would want at a celebration of life and one of his choices perfectly captures how he would want to be remembered.

“I’ve lived a life that’s full
I traveled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way.”